GAULTHERIA. 



783. G. procumbens Linn. sp. pi. 565. Bot. Rep. t. 116. 

 Bigel. med. bot. t. 22. — Sterile sand and gravel in mountainous 

 forests in the driest situations in North America. " Partridge 

 berry, Chequer berry, Box berry, Mountain tea," &c. 



Rhizoma horizontal, woody, often \ of an inch in thickness. 

 Branches ascending, but a few inches high, round and somewhat downy. 

 Leaves scattered, near the extremities of the branches, evergreen, 

 coriaceous, shining, oval or obovate, acute at both ends, revolute at 

 the edge, and furnished with a few small serratures, each terminating in 

 a bristle. Flowers axillary, drooping, on round downy stalks. Bracts 

 2, concave, heart-shaped. Calyx white, cleft into 5 roundish acute 

 segments. Corolla white, urceolate, 5-angled, contracted at the mouth ; 

 the limb divided into 5 short, reflexed segments. Filaments white, 

 hairy, bent in a semicircular manner to accommodate themselves to the 

 cavity between the corolla and ovary ; anthers oblong, orange-coloured, 

 ending in 2 double horns, bursting outwardly for their whole length 

 above the filaments ; pollen white. Ovary roundish, depressed, 5-angled, 

 resting on a reddish, 10-toothed, glandular disk ; style erect, straight ; 

 stigma simple. Fruit a small, 5-celled, many-seeded capsule, invested 

 with the calyx, which becomes large, round, and fleshy, having the 

 appearance of a bright scarlet berry. — Fruit contains an aromatic, sweet, 

 highly pungent volatile oil which is antispasmodic and diuretic. A 

 tincture has been useful in diarrhoea. Coxe states that the infusion is 

 useful in asthma. It is used in North America as tea ; and brandy in 

 which the fruit has been steeped is taken in small quantities in the same 

 way as common bitters. 



ARBUTUS. 



Calyx small 5-parted. Corolla globose or ovate, with a small, 

 contracted, 5-cleft, reflexed border. Stamens 10, inclosed, with 

 flattened filaments ; anthers compressed at the sides, dehiscing 

 at the apex by 2 pores, fixed by the back beneath the apex, and 

 there furnished with 2 reflexed awns. Stigma obtuse. Fruit 

 succulent, granular, many-seeded, with a cartilaginous or papery 

 lining to the cells. 



784. A. Unedo Linn. sp. pi. 566. Eng. Bot. t. 2377. Eng. 

 Fl. ii. 252. — South of Europe, West of Ireland, the Levant. 

 (Strawberry Tree.) 



A bushy tree, of very great size in Crete and the Levant ; the young 

 shoots often red, and rough with glandular hairs. Bark of the main 

 stem reddish-brown, the external layers coming off in thin flakes. 

 Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, unequally serrated, bright green, veiny, rigid, 

 on hairy footstalks, without stipules. Clusters panicled, bent down- 

 wards, smooth. Bracteas oblong, solitary under each partial stalk, 

 recurved. Flowers very elegant, of a greenish, semitransparent white, 

 with a shade of red, destitute of scent. Berry crimson, the size of a 

 cherry, very like a strawberry, covered with hard tubercles. Smith. — A 

 wine is made from the fruit in Corsica, but it is reported to be narcotic, 

 if taken in quantity. 

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